Son of the Hero King

That night, Sol had gone to sleep for a much-needed rest. Just as he was about to drip off to dreamland, he was pulled into a dream, deep in his sea of consciousness.

Opening his eyes, he blinked a little as he found himself once again in front of hs Gate of Truth. Unlike in the past though, the Gate was wide open, showing an interior similar to a shrine with a large book on it.

Walking in, Sol gently caressed the book that looked more like an old grimoire and decorated with an apple on the Cover.

“Pretty beautiful, don’t you think?” A voice, eerily similar to his own, asked from his side. No surprise etched Sol’s face.

“I thought you were supposed to vanish,” Sol mentioned as he pivoted toward the man. His relationship with Adam was… complicated, to say the least.

“How cold, brother. After all I did for you, not even a ‘glad to see you’. I feel hurt, you know?” The man made a mock gesture as he placed his hand on his chest but Sol simply gazed at him expressionlessly.

“...”

In the end, Adam simply sighed out loud, “Well, know that while I would love to vanish from this space… I can’t. Or rather, I could, but I don’t want to affect you negatively.”

Sol furrowed his brow but soon realization dawned upon him. “I am assimilating your existence.”

“Bingo. I must say the Law you obtained is quite nasty. Either way, it’s slowly devouring my power and using me as a source of energy for your advancement.” He shrugged before adding, “I don’t really care about that, but it seems like if I let myself go you will also assimilate my memories.”

The frown etching Sol’s face only grew deeper. Scratching his head, he sighed out loud before offering, “Thank you.”

Obtaining Adam’s power and memories would mean getting the power and knowledge of someone who was once the supreme overlord of this entire universe. However, that came with its own set of existential baggage.

“My existence is still too small,” Sol said in a calm voice. Even if he added the years he lived in his other life, he would only have a few decade's worth of memories. How could he ever hope to compare to the billions of years that Adam had under his belt?

If he made a mistake, he would likely stop being himself and either become Adam in all but name or become a third entity resulting from the fusion between him and Adam.

Neither of those possibilities interested Sol.

Adam grinned. His white faceless figure slowly morphed until all that was left was a black-haired tall young man, seemingly in his twenties, wearing a pair of glasses covering bright golden eyes.

Looking at him, one would never think that they were facing some kind of universe creator.

In fact, from the modern clothes he was wearing, Sol had the impression he was facing a university student from Earth. This was quite unnerving to say the least.

“So, this is your true appearance?” Sol asked, curiosity filling his words. He could objectively say that the young man was very handsome but outside of that it was not the impressive figure he imagined.

“Prejudice is not a great thing you know? Did you imagine me as some old guy with a white beard?” Adam laughed and then stretched. “As for this?” He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists. “Well, you could say that it’s indeed my original appearance with a few modifications that I picked up along my journey.”

He sighed and approached the book, caressing it with a nostalgic expression.

“Anything I should know about this book?” Sol asked.

“The Book of Genesis was once my friend and closest ally. Sadly, its spirit died. A pity, I once promised to give her a new name but until the very end, I only called it Genesis.”

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Sol felt silent, there was a feeling of incongruity that was continuously gnawing at his mind.

Nothing was making sense here. He had seen some of Adam's memories and from what he knew, Adam was born with this universe, and as such was its origin.

However, why then was Adam showing his current appearance? Why was he donning clothes from his old world if he was an entity of this one? And why the hell was he claiming this to be his original appearance?

“You must have many questions.” Adam eyed Sol as he spoke, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation.

“I swear to everything I hold dear, If you say something like, it’s too soon, or I am not ready yet, or it isn’t time, I am going to riot.”

Sol hated cryptic bullshit. Yet, it kept happening to him in each step of his journey.

Adam exploded in laughter, which once again unnerved Sol. The Adam he remembered had an otherworldly feel to him, a clear presence that screamed his godly power.

The Adam he was facing almost felt… human.

Seriously? Sol thought. It cannot be, right?

If his suspicions proved to be correct, the ideas he had about this universe would need a lot of reshuffling.

“I can see your brain overworking from here.” Adam stopped laughing and shook his head.

“To start, I would like to urge you to not worry. Previously, I couldn’t share the secrets with you, not only because you were too weak to protect that information but also because those matters had no reason to be of any importance to you. Now, though, things are very much different. You are starting to step into very dangerous waters, so I owe you some explanations.”

Adam closed his eyes and sighed. “I am sure you have many questions, but answering them one by one would feel very disjointed and a waste of our time. So, let me steer the direction of this discussion, ok?”

“You are the boss. I am listening.” Sol nodded and two chairs appeared, between them. This discussion was going to take some time.

“So, where should we start?” Adam pondered, causing Sol to chuckle.

“How about, from the very beginning?” Sol snickered.

“I like your wordplay.”

The two shared a smile but soon Adam adopted a more serious expression, after all, he was about to share one of the greatest truths of this world.

“Let’s start with one simple truth. One you should be aware of by now.”

Sol waited patiently for Adam’s next words.

“This first piece of information is pretty clear. For you who have been reincarnated in this world you should be aware of it by now, right?”

Adam closed his eyes as if savoring the words he was about to utter.

“The universe we live in is part of a greater whole. One composed of a near infinite convergence of different realities.”

Sol was not shocked. This was indeed easy to guess. After all, he was not from this world and no matter how he searched, it was clear that Earth in itself was not part of this universe.

Yet, so many things from Earth influenced this world.

Adam opened the book and thousands upon thousands of shining planets manifested on its pages.

“Consider each of these planets as a verse. Once you have enough power, you will be able to breach the crystal wall and enter other verses. The coordinates are all here. Quite handy, right?”

Sol stiffened as Adam bragged about having coordinates of thousands of universes as though he was collecting marbles. He had never even heard about this crystal wall he mentioned but its functionalities were quite easy to deduce.

Adam was happy that Sol did not interrupt him and so he continued, “The Crystal Wall is the natural protection of a universe or a dimension. The stronger the World Will of a universe, the stronger its crystal wall. As for the World Will, it’s what you call Fate. An unfeeling, emotionless system with the sole mission of protecting the universe it oversees.”

It seemed like Adam was determined to shatter all the understanding Sol had of the world as he kept bringing more and more new terms and from the smile on his face, he took great pleasure in it.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t try leaving this universe. At least not until you reach Eve’s level. Otherwise, you will most likely die getting crushed by the void between worlds, get stranded, or get captured by some outer gods.”

“Eve…?” This time, Sol simply couldn’t help but ask. Which prompted Adam to nod.

“Eve. She was… I guess you could say that she was my wife. Though it seems like she went crazy and split her soul after I died. Nowadays, she goes by two names.”

“Don’t tell me.” Sol gasped.

“You must have guessed by now.” Adam smiled bitterly as he shared another shocking truth about this universe, “The ones known as Mother Goddess of Order and Mother Goddess of Chaos were once the same entity.”